Curiosity Live, the celebration of research, creativity and innovation is back for Glasgow Science Festival 2019. As always I am excited to start booking in excited and ethusiastic researchers who are keen to share the work they do with little kids and big kids here at Glasgow Science Centre.

This event will run from 12th to 16th June 2019, however as with previous events we would not be expecting contributors to be here for the whole time.

We are looking for anyone who would like to share their work through exciting and interactive tabletop activities which are accessible for a range of age groups. The audience and timings for each day are as follows:

We can provide tables, chairs, access to power and a limited number of TV screens. I am very keen to include as wide a range of contributors as possible, and in particular to add those from chemistry, animal biology, computing science and the arts.

This September, do you want to share your research in a pan-European event? Explorathon 2019 takes place on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th September 2019.

Explorathon is Scotland’s event for EU Researchers’ Night. Researchers’ Night takes place on the last Friday in September each year. It is a public celebration of research that takes place in more than 300 cities across Europe.

You don’t need to be funded by the European Commission to take part in Researchers’ Night, and you can be working on any area of research – the arts, humanities and social sciences are welcome.

Universities in Scotland first ran Explorathon in 2014. This year, events will take place in the cities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews. The Beltane Public Engagement Network coordinates the events in Edinburgh. The Scottish event as a whole is led by the University of Aberdeen.

Last year, around 3,000 members of the public turned out across the city to see events in venues including Ocean Terminal, WHALE Arts, Royal Botanic Gardens, the Lyell Centre, and many more. This year, we hope to see many more people!

If you would like to be involved, we are looking for both researchers and volunteers for the following venues:

Now in its seventh year at the Fringe, The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas sees some of the country’s leading academics and researchers escape from their ‘ivory towers’, with the express purpose of simultaneously explaining their most dangerous ideas and entertaining real people.

They call it ‘public engagement’; we call it ‘a right good night!’.

With plenty of time for questions and discussion, three academics preview their Fringe shows, ably assisted by compere and self-styled ‘stupidest person in the room’, Susan Morrison.

Spoiler alert: This is NOT a lecture. Attendees are liable to learn something new and interesting!

Did Grover drop an F-bomb on Sesame Street? Do the names Yanny and Laurel make you want to fight? You know what your ears tell you – you heard it yourself! But why do so many people disagree? How can people can hear radically different things in the same sound? Who’s right? Can even a professional linguist say for sure? Pit your ears against your friends’ and neighbours’ and let’s settle this once and for all. Using acoustic trickery Rebekka Puderbaugh (The University of Edinburgh) will make you doubt reality and distrust everything (you think) you hear.

What is art and should we fund it? Have you ever thought: “What the f**k is that? People pay money for that? A two-year old could do it!”. We’re talking art with Ron O’Donnell (Edinburgh Napier University).

Who decides what is valuable, or creative? Do you need to be educated to understand it? Would you despair if a great artwork was destroyed? Would you give a shit if all contemporary art disappeared tomorrow? If art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observation, why is so much of it baffling and aloof?

Problems are like whirlpools – they suck you in. How often have you found yourself talking over and over about the same ‘difficult’ people and other irritations? What if you don’t actually need to understand a problem to come up with a great solution? This is the radical idea at the heart of Solution Focus.

Rayya Ghul (The University of Edinburgh), internationally-renowned solution-focused practitioner, will bust myths about the value of problem-solving. You’ll have a chance to learn the skills behind conversations that can create real and lasting change. Are you ready to give up stressing?

Duration: 120minutes | Show ends: 10.30pm approx. | Age Guidance: 18+ | Bar: From when doors open and after the show | Food Service: Bar snacks available

Now in its seventh year at the Fringe, The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas sees some of the country’s leading academics and researchers escape from their ‘ivory towers’, with the express purpose of simultaneously explaining their most dangerous ideas and entertaining real people.

They call it ‘public engagement’; we call it ‘a right good night!’.

With plenty of time for questions and discussion, three academics preview their Fringe shows, ably assisted by compere and self-styled ‘stupidest person in the room’, Susan Morrison.

Spoiler alert: This is NOT a lecture. Attendees are liable to learn something new and interesting!

What does it mean to be a human in the era of Google Translate? Is it really taking over human translation? What if it isn’t just words after all? Can machines replicate human feelings and language nuances? Paola Ruffo (Heriot-Watt University) explores how the boundaries between humans, words and machines are being redrawn. Join her at the edges of the magic world of translation to discover what happens when humans and machines meet new languages. Can you tell the difference between a text from a human and one written by a machine?

Women are constantly measuring one another by ideals of thinness, beauty, ‘best mommy practices’, and keeping a happy home with a happy partner. Why? Are their values warped? Are they not happy with themselves, or are they afraid of being alone? Why is single status so threatening? Does competitiveness drive their insecurities or do women’s insecurities drive their competitiveness? Amy Andrada (The University of Edinburgh) dares to ask. In her quest, she discovers that women are much more than they appear and accept far less than they deserve.

The NHS are getting it wrong! Funny? No! Laughable? Maybe! Jenny Patterson (Edinburgh Napier University) hits out at the NHS for neglecting midwives and heartlessly letting women suffer – almost like trauma-stressed war veterans. Neglected midwives can end up lashing out or burning out, leaving some women feeling shocked and abandoned. Sadly, both midwives and women can end up with PTSD. Do midwives need to toughen up? Do women? Jenny doesn’t pull her punches and says: “Never mind the women, what about the midwives?”.

Duration: 120minutes | Show ends: 10.30pm approx. | Age Guidance: 18+ | Bar: From when doors open and after the show | Food Service: Bar snacks available

The Night gives researchers the opportunity to share their research with members of the public. All subject areas and career stages are welcome. Your research does not need to be funded by the European Commission, and it does not need to be science-based.